Upcycling – we prevent valuable materials from being thrown away

After completing this production, we have now used up a significant amount of remnant materials and are moving on to designing our second collection. We still have plenty of remnant materials, surplus components, and sorted-out products that we want to upcycle into new, unique creations. To handle larger quantities, we plan to produce future orders at our manufacturing facility in Obereisenbach.

VAUDE stores also participate in upcycling. Instead of disposing of old shop window banners, they are made available to DIY enthusiasts for a small fee. These banners can then be transformed at home into bags, picnic blankets, or beautiful gift packaging!

You can find the nearest VAUDE store here

And “Experience” blog posts here 

Since 2018 we have also been producing upcycled shopping bags and backpacks for the Deutsche Zeppelin-Reederei as part of a pilot project – using the outer shell of a decommissioned Zeppelin NT. Instead of disposing with this old shell, beautiful souvenirs are being created so that since the summer of 2018, fans of this famous airship have been able to buy these unique bags and packs from the Zeppelin shop in Friedrichshafen or online in the fan shop.

Together with our partner DAV we implemented upcycling products in 2019. The DAV provided us with old banner material which we turned into unique backpacks and shoulder bags in our Upcycling workshop. Edelrid also took part in the project and contributed rope remnants for the straps. The products were raffled off at various DAV events.

In 2020, we implemented another order for a planned DAV event. This involved shoulder bags made from old banner material and rope remnants.

After establishing our Upcycling Workshop, we took a second step in 2018 and created an external upcycling community and material exchange together with other companies, schools and creative artists. Our goal is to create a platform that companies can use to make valuable residual materials available for upcycling projects. "Upcyclers" can then use these materials for their products and launch their projects onto the market.

Find out more about the community here

Used tent fabrics from VAUDE tents that couldn't be repaired at our Repair Service get a new life as a pocket companion from Roterfaden.

These innovative products are 100 % handmade in Germany.
Find the pocket companion with used VAUDE tent fabrics here.

We have provided numerous art colleges with materials from a discontinued line of tent flies for their creative work.

For several years we have worked with students from the Technisches Gymnasium Ravensburg on the development of a sustainable business model within the framework of the project “Umweltprofis von morgen” (Environmental champions of tomorrow). In 2016 and 2017 students came up with ideas for upcycling VAUDE material remnants. Read more here

In 2016, four students used recycled advertising banners and returned products that couldn't be repaired by our service department, and turned them into new bags that could be used as pencil cases or for cosmetics.

In 2017 another group of students designed a headphone case using remnant materials from our Manufaktur.

A Belgian school made costumes for a dance performance from VAUDE material remnants.

Bags made from VAUDE material remnants by a Catholic relief organization in Kralup by Moldau, Czech Republic

Gaiters made from VAUDE material remnants by a Catholic relief organization in Kralup by Moldau, Czech Republic

Material remnants also accrue in the production facilities that we subcontract to. When we have large amounts of remnants, we can use them to produce special one-off product models. Our producers use smaller leftover quantities for the training of new employees or training purposes.

We also rely on upcycling from leftovers in the outfitting of our VAUDE Stores. For example, the curtains for the changing rooms are made out of leftover Packs 'n Bags materials. The clothes hanger labels for our sale items are also made from remnant materials.

Unfortunately, we still don't have a recycling option for smaller remnant amounts. This generally comes with significant effort and costs (such as those due to customs regulations) when processing them or bringing them to our headquarters. Now that we have established our internal upcycling structure and the material exchange, we want to devote ourselves more intensively to this issue in the future.

Currently about 82 % of waste in Germany is recycled*. Recycling waste means that the raw materials and energy are put back into the commercial cycle. The most common form of this recycling is the combustion of waste to produce energy. High quality waste is transformed into a lower quality product.** For this reason such processes are known as downcycling.

There are also more sustainable and more effective ways to re-use this waste than in elaborate downcycling processes. The idea is to create new products from waste that are equivalent or higher in value than the materials used. The transformation of “useless” waste into new items is known as upcycling.

*http://www.bmub.bund.de/themen/wasser-abfall-boden/abfallwirtschaft/abfallarten-abfallstroeme/produktionsabfaelle/

**https://www.nachhaltigkeit.info/artikel/downcycling_2007.htm